What do you think about Psionics?

[Metus]

This has been discussed a lot previously; I've gone back and read the posts on occassion to see what people thought about psionics.

Personally, I think it's outrageously unbalanced, as do the rest of my players in the group, even including the player that loves psions.

I think it really comes down to if you have a powergamer in your group, or someone who will really focus on the mechanics. If so, the ridiculous things they'll pull off as a psion are jaw-dropping to the point of being comical, outstripping any other class.

Just be extremely wary if you plan on using psionics. I wanted to like it, and I still do want to, but it's pretty insane.

 

[Klaus]

This has been discussed a lot previously; I've gone back and read the posts on occassion to see what people thought about psionics.

Personally, I think it's outrageously unbalanced, as do the rest of my players in the group, even including the player that loves psions.

I think it really comes down to if you have a powergamer in your group, or someone who will really focus on the mechanics. If so, the ridiculous things they'll pull off as a psion are jaw-dropping to the point of being comical, outstripping any other class.

Just be extremely wary if you plan on using psionics. I wanted to like it, and I still do want to, but it's pretty insane.

Could you please exemplify?

 

[FunkBGR]

Psychic's Handbook, by Green Ronin.

Better than SRD version, but YMMV

 

[MadMaxim]

I like psionics as well. They're easier to customize than spells and you can augment them to get different or more powerful effects. On the other hand, they always start dealing the lowest amount of damage, so your manifester level doesn't automatically mean more damage dice to roll like arcane and divine casters.

 

[Razz]

One reason I never used it is because I'm intimidated by an entire book on using a single class. Would anyone mind explaining in detail how you use psionic rules in the game? I would also be interested in hearing about psionic fluff in the game if you have good reasons to use the class.

It's not one class. It's 4 classes. Psion, Psychic Warrior, Soulknife, and Wilder. The D&D Website offers a Psychic Rogue class and Complete Psionic has 4 more psionic classes: Ardent, Divine Mind, Erudite, and Lurk.

Psionics is a lot of fun and puts a whole new area in your campaign for both you and your players to explore. I say go for it! Get those two books and have fun with it. There's nothing wrong with the system and it won't damage your games, it'll simply add a new spotlight to it.

 

[Tonguez]

Use the Feats!
(which will mean giving your PCs at least 1 Psionic power point) but a monk with psionic feats is kewl (although Psychic Warrior is better imho)

Overall the Psionic Rules pretty much works out as a point based spell system with many of the powers being practically identical to existng spells. I like the system much better than the vancian spell system of DnD but really Psych Warrior is the only Psionic class which appealed to me (I don't play pure spellcasters very often either)

Crystals suck, Skins and Tattoos make a good addition to a game and the monsters are okay

Now the Feats on the other hand are kewl...

 

[Herobizkit]

IMO, A lot of people are intimidated by psionics because they're just not familiar with them. Standard D&D magic is so pervasive and common that everyone can safely expect what is to happen when encountering a mage or a cleric; it's an unintentional meta-gaming knee-jerk reaction.

For example, if your players encounter a fireball-using wizard, they recognize the apparent danger and strategize accordingly (by spreading out on the battle map, upping their fire resistance, counterspelling, or whatever). Have a psion strut in with something like Wildfire and the players will go "WTF?"

Really, you have to walk your players through the joys of psionics, one tiny step at a time. They're learning a brand-new system for "spell effects" and you need to use kid gloves or the players are going to get overwhelmed.

 

[kibbitz]

This has been discussed a lot previously; I've gone back and read the posts on occassion to see what people thought about psionics.

Personally, I think it's outrageously unbalanced, as do the rest of my players in the group, even including the player that loves psions.

I think it really comes down to if you have a powergamer in your group, or someone who will really focus on the mechanics. If so, the ridiculous things they'll pull off as a psion are jaw-dropping to the point of being comical, outstripping any other class.

Just be extremely wary if you plan on using psionics. I wanted to like it, and I still do want to, but it's pretty insane.

There's this sticky on the wizards boards about the overpowered bit. I've not played with the XPH but do take a look, at least for the first page.

 

[Ry]

I love the style and illustrations of psionic characters, but I've never been convinced that it runs better than the standard magic system (unlike, say, Warlock Invocations, which have terrible illustration but, in my experience, excellent mechanics).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

My hat of psionics know no limit.

I've always disliked the flavor of the way they are presented -- psi as presented has always felt to sci-fi for my preferred brand of D&D fantasy, what with all the names, crytals, etc, etc.

I have never found that the mechanics for them mesh well -- though admittedly the 3.5 version has the best psionics mechanics yet created. Why use a completely different system for what in the end is essentially a similar system of magic? Or if you play with the "psionics are different" option, then you have to run two parallel and incompatible systems.

All the folks that like psionics are welcome to them, but I'm glad they have remained an optional part of the game. The flavor and mechanics haven't evolved to the point of being palatable to me yet.